Resistant infectious organisms affect hospitalized patients at an ever increasing rate. Patients are frequently exposed to these organisms and other biohazards because of inadequate isolation techniques which do not maintain sufficient barriers between patients and their health care providers. Breaks in technique result in cross contamination of previously uninfected patients, which in turn, causes increased colonization and infection with resistant organisms. These infections cost millions of dollars annually and add to patient morbidity and hospital length of stay.
The primary mode of isolation in hospitals is barrier protection. Gloves are the most commonly used barrier to prevent bacterial cross contamination. Even though gloves are effective if used correctly, the need for frequent patient monitoring results in breaks in barrier protection. For example, the use of a stethoscope is a well-documented defect in isolation techniques. The stethoscope, typically a personal device owned by the health care professional, is used to assess the chest and heart of every patient by multiple health care professionals. The stethoscope is carried by each health care professional from patient to patient and acts as a fomite, increasing organism transmission. There are numerous articles documenting the harboring of organisms by the stethoscope, and the manner by which these organisms are transmitted to others.
Single-use stethoscopes have been implemented as a solution to eliminate breaks in barrier protection, but these stethoscopes are often left in the room of patients carrying resistant organisms and the supply quickly becomes contaminated. More importantly, the single-use stethoscope is hardly ever used in place of the health care professional's personal stethoscope. As a result, the single-use stethoscope has not been effective in infection control isolation and control.
As efforts to clean stethoscopes between use can be ineffective and are generally not done with consistency, there have been a number of other attempts to develop an effective and economical solution to the problem of micro-organism transmission via the stethoscope. U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,867,265, 5,486,659, 5,564,431, 5,747,751, and 5,813,992 disclose a cover which only extends over the head of the stethoscope. As a result, the rest of the stethoscope remains exposed and susceptible to contamination. U.S. Pat. No. 5,623,131 discloses a two piece stethoscope cover that has a first piece which covers the head and a second piece that covers the tube that connects the head to the ear tubes. In some embodiments, there is an exposed region between to the two pieces. In the embodiment in which the two pieces are connected, the ear tubes remain exposed. Thus, even if a user properly couples the two pieces, a significant portion of the stethoscope is not covered.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,592,946 discloses a stethoscope cover that also leaves the ear tubes and the head exposed. Furthermore, this cover is made of a hypoallergenic fabric which may not be a barrier to biohazards and the only disclosed functions of the cover is to prevent allergic reactions of the wear and to decorate the stethoscope to help distract anxious patients. U.S. Pat. No. 5,466,898 discloses a stethoscope isolation system which, although completely covers the head, leaves most of the ear tubes exposed. U.S. Design Pat. No. 376,043 shows a stethoscope cover which does extend up the length of the ear tubes. This cover does not protect the side of the head of the stethoscope that contacts the patient, and, the shown design would be awkward to use.
Thus, there exists a need for improved methods for preventing the transmission of infectious organisms between patients when a stethoscope is used, and the present invention provides a solution to this problem.